The Timber man. 



409 



qualify this statement by adding that this may be their length when the m.alc has 

 but recently made his first public appearance. After he has met with another 

 of his sex, probably a ri\al for the good opinion of a female, these antcnnce may be 

 seriously damaged. The beetle-hunter has to deplore this tendency of the males 

 to fight and spoil the good looks of their rivals, for it makes it a difficult matter 

 to secure a perfect male specimen for the cabinet. In spite of their great length, 

 these antennae consist only of the same number of joints as in many long-horned 

 beetles, whose appendages do not show any disproportion to the length of their 

 bodies. The disparity is attained by the lengthen- 

 ing of each of the ten joints. Each joint has the 

 forward half light coloured, and the hinder half 

 dark. 



The beetle attacks various trees, but shows 

 a distinct preference for pine. It is most fre- 

 quently obtained from the stumps of felled trees, 

 because in the dcca\-ing of the large cut surface 

 these are more easily explored by the collector ; 

 but the Insect does not restrict its operations to 

 these useless remains. It also pays attention to 

 standing timber, but there is reason for believing 

 that though tlie wood is sound and useful, the 

 process of decay has begun before the beetle 

 considers it fit for its purpose. 



The grub makes tunnels of considerable 

 width, and when approaching towards full size 

 it turns these in the direction of the circumference 

 of the stem, so that it finishes its labours not far 

 from the exterior, where as a beetle it may have 

 little boring work in making its escape. It then 

 constructs a sort of cocoon of gnawed fragments 

 of wood, in which at the beginning of summer 

 it changes to a chrysalis. In this stage the sexes 

 may be distinguished alreadw for the long 

 antenna; of the male, curved down each side, 

 have to be cur\'ed again and brought up in front piwto by] j:.sup,f.l.s. 



and over the head, as shown in our drawing. Fortune's Long-horn. 



... ... . .\ fine wood-borer with metallic blue-green colounng. 



It remains m this condition for a few weeks only. The photograph represents it of the natural size. 



and then the })erfect beetle throws off the chr\-salis-skin. But it is in no hurry to 

 make a public appearance. It lies quietly in its cell, aj:)parently, for nearly a year, 

 and does not emerge into the open air until the summer following. 



It has often been captured in coal-mines, sometimes at very great depths 

 below the surface, and the explanntion is to be found in the fact that it has found 

 its w^ay into these regions as a grub in the interior of timber used for propping 

 the roof of workings. 



Two larger beetles of similar form and habit may — borrowing from their Latin 



